IC Spain reigns again at Abdesselam Trophy

The sixth edition of the Robert Abdesselam Trophy was held last weekend at the Club de Campo in Madrid, where the IC of Spain were joined by competitors from the IC of Belgium, IC of France and IC of Great Britain. As always, it proved to be a highly competitive weekend which went right down to the last match and even called for a set count back. But it was the host nation, the IC of Spain, who were eventually crowned winners.

On the first day of play, the Spanish team defeated the Belgians by 3 matches to 1 in a close battle. The GB and French fixture saw 3 out of 4 of the matches going to a third set match tie-break, with the IC of GB coming out on top on all three occasions to triumph by 3 matches to 1.

On the Saturday, whilst the GB team defeated the Belgians by 4 matches to 0, the IC of France and IC of Spain were all square after four matches and needed a deciding rubber to decide the result. It was the French who edged out the host nation on this occasion and therefore moving into the final day of matches, it was all to play for.

On Sunday, the IC of France saw off the Belgians by 3 matches to 1 and the IC of Spain staged a remarkable comeback to beat the Brits by 3 matches to 1, with the spectators enjoying some extremely high quality doubles play. This therefore left both GB and Spain with a total of 8 matches won and therefore the need to go back to a set count back. With a positive balance of eight sets for the IC of Spain compared to five sets for the IC of GB, it was the host nation that were crowned champions on this occasion.

The victorious team was comprised of Patricia Couder, Charo Couder, Rosa Bielsa, Monica Alvarez Mon, Berta Tintoré, Juan Carlos Andrade, Javier Molina, Juan Avendaño, Carlos de Miguel and Antonio Zapatero, who also captained the team. The President of the Abdesselam Foundation, Mr. Jean Pierre Herve Gautier, and Mr Juan Mª Tintoré, the President of IC Spain, attended the official dinner and the prize giving ceremony.

Congratulations to and appreciations for the IC of Spain for their victory, hospitality and for hosting such an enjoyable and successful weekend. 

 Final positions:
 1. IC of Spain
 2. IC of GB
 3. IC of France
 4. IC of Belgium

For full results and to see the final draw, please click on the file below.